It All Started Here:

This is the book that started my collection. It was NOT the first book in
the collection.

If I remember correctly, it was 1971, I was traveling with my parents
from Saskatchewan to Ontario to visit my Grandparents. Anyone not familiar
with Canada, should know that this was a 4000 KM drive. I was in the back
seat of the Jaguar, no such thing as gameboy in those years, luckily I
enjoyed reading and had brought a number of books, Science fiction is my
favorite, I soon finished the 2 or 3 books that were supposed to last me the
trip there and back. My mother, also an avid reader had brought Rude Jokes.
I heard her chuckling a number of time on the trip and asked her for the
book. There wasn't a moment of boredom after that. I am sure I read almost
every page out loud to my parents. I remember that even my Father, a fairly
serious person (in the opinion of a 12 year old) had a number of laughs.

After the trip, the jokes and stories I had read became a staple in
the humor that I used and the jokes that were shared with friends and at
parties. It wasn't until about 6 years later that I asked my mother if she
still had the book, I wanted to read it again. She told me she had lent it
to a radio personality in our home town and had never had it returned.

The search was on!! I watched for the book in used book stores, I
tried to request it from new book stores, I tried to get it from libraries.
Not to be found.

In 2000 I started an intensive internet
search for the book. That was the beginning of my collection. I started to
find other books by H. Allen Smith in the out of print book section at
Barnes and Noble . I
found I could get signed first editions. No turning back now.

I
found another copy of this book advertised on the B&N web site, but I
delayed a day because of the price, the next time I saw a copy, I hardly
looked at the cost, I just hit the purchase button.

This may not be
the nicest book in the collection, but it is my most prized one.